Please join me for a special event on Thursday evening at 7pm at the Tewksbury Public Library where I will be giving my Pollinator Garden program. This event is free and open to the general public. I hope to see you there!
I am currently booking programs for 2016-2017 and would be delighted to present to your club, library, school, and private or public event. See the Programs Page of my website and feel free to contact me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com with any questions.
This past week I presented a screening and Q&A of Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly film and program to the Ipswich Town and Country Garden Club. Marion Frost, two time past President and six time Program Chair for the club had some very kind things to say about my program. Marion grew up in Gloucester!
The short film BomBom Butterflies, winner of the Rockport Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award, gives a glimpse of the full length documentaryLife Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly.
[PITTSFIELD, MA] – The Berkshire Museum will present a workshop and documentary screening with landscape designer and filmmaker Kim Smith on Saturday, September 20, 2014. Both events are included with regular Museum admission. The slide-illustrated talk, Creating a Bee, Bird, and Butterfly Garden, begins at 10 a.m.and the screening of the film, Life Story of the Black Swallowtail, will follow the talk, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Both programs are part of the Museum’s BeMuse program series.
Creating a Bee, Bird, and Butterfly Garden
Saturday, September 20, 10 a.m.
Following the rhythm of the seasons, Kim Smith presents a stunning slide show and lecture demonstrating how to create a welcoming haven for bees, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Native plants and examples of organic and architectural features will be discussed based on their value to particular vertebrates and invertebrates. Pollinator plant list handout included with workshop.
Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Saturday, September 20, 11:30 a.m. (time approximate; screening follows workshop)
Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a 45-minute narrated film that takes place in a garden and at the sea’s edge. Every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is experienced in vibrant close-up, from conception to pupation to metamorphosis. The film is suitable for all ages so all can gain a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between wildflowers and pollinators and the vital role they play in our ecosystem. The film was shot in Gloucester, Massachusetts. A discussion and Q & A with Kim Smith, the filmmaker, will follow the screening. Life Story of the Black Swallowtail is the first film in a trilogy about butterflies and will be followed next year by Beauty on the Wing ~ Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.
About Kim Smith
Kim Smith is a filmmaker, designer, author, illustrator, photographer, and naturalist who documents, in a variety of media, the world around her. She is the author and illustrator ofOh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden(David R. Godine, publisher, 2009).Kim’s landscape and interior design firm, Kim Smith Designs, works with clientele to create highly individualized homes and gardens, and she specializes in creating butterfly and songbird habitat gardens in public spaces.Smith is a daily contributor to the stellar community blogGood Morning Gloucester.
Located in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at 39 South St., the Berkshire Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $13 adult, $6 child; Museum members and children age 3 and under enjoy free admission. Admission to the Butterfly Pavilion is an additional $2 per person. For more information, visit Berkshire Museum or call 413.443.7171.
In association with the Smithsonian since 2013, Berkshire Museum is part of a select group of museums, cultural, educational, and arts organizations that share the Smithsonian’s resources with the nation.
Established by Zenas Crane in 1903, Berkshire Museum integrates art, history, and natural science in a wide range of programs and exhibitions that inspire educational connections between the disciplines. Butterflies is on view throughOctober 26, 2014. Objectify: A Look into the Permanent Collection is currently on view. Little Cinema is open year-round. Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation, Worlds in Miniature, Aquarium, and other exhibits are ongoing.
I hope you can come join me for an evening of screenings and Q and A at the 2014 Lowell Film Series. My film Life Story of the Black Swallowtail is playing, along with Whales of Gold, a film by Lucia Duncan, about the gray whale migration and how to conserve habitat and species in a way that also sustains the livelihoods of local people.
About the film: Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a 45-minute narrated documentary that takes place in a garden and at the sea’s edge. Every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is experienced in vibrant close-up, from conception to pupation to metamorphosis. The film is for adults and for children so that all can gain a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between wildflowers and pollinators and the vital role they play in our ecosystem. Filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
A whirlwind 20 hours in New York City to see the extraordinary Macklemore and Company perform at the Best Buy Theatre left me spellbound and so not wanting the concert to be over!
Wanz singing Thrift Shop
I was a guest of my daughter Liv, who is the events manger at Best Buy Theatre. How proud I am of her and the fantastic job she does! I followed her around the theatre and observed as she managed 80 plus employees including 45 security guards, and as many bartenders, waitresses, hatcheck girls, and barbacks. The Xbox event was particularly complex and she had been at the theatre since 6am that morning and wasn’t going to be leaving until 6am the following morning. I had to laugh (with admiration) because if you’ve ever met my daughter, you know she is a petite blonde, and she is managing the likes of hurly burly security guards aptly nicknamaed “House.” Most of the employees are young aspiring actors and actresses, or a bit older with families to support, and everyone was super, super sweet and fun to meet.
I found Macklemore awhile back and by accident one day while googling around looking for interesting and beautiful music videos, which then led to entering their video competition for the song BomBom. Liv knows that I am a huge, huge fan of Macklemores and I was on cloud nine when she asked if I would like to attend the event. Their music and their message are beautiful and delivered with heart and humor. The concert was fabulous and fun in every way–really simply beyond fabulous!!!
Mary Lambert singing the tender and heartfelt Same Love
The set list from the concert ~
1.Ten Thousand Hours
2. Thrift shop featuring Wanz
3. Same Love featuring Mary Lambert
4. White walls
5. And We Danced
6. Can’t Hold Us featuring Ray Dalton
I didn’t have my interchangeable lens camera with me, as they are often times not allowed, and had to rely on my iPhone for video. I had never shot anything longer than a Vine with my iPhone and discovered that the iPhone shoots in 1080p, which is wonderful and ideal for editing. Video coming later today!
Times Square
Liv found a great little hotel in midtown, within walking distance of Penn Station and Best Buy Theatre. The following morning before heading back to Gloucester (and she to bed for some much needed rest), we walked around Bryant Park in the rain and had a late breakfast at a charming French pâtissier. ~ Thanks to my darling daughter Liv for the wonderfully fun 20-hour New York City whirlwind!
Bryant Park Carousel
Skating in the Park
See more posts related to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ~
Two screenings were held at the annual Motif No.1 Festival in Rockport, one on Friday, May 17th and another on Saturday, May 18th, with Twin Lights soda courtesy of Rockport’s own Thomas Wilson Beverage Co. at both screenings. Viewers were asked to vote for their favorite film (if they felt so inclined — voting was entirely optional). Across the ballots all the films received great feedback, with one voter checking off every single option with the comment that each one was a favorite. But in the end, two films emerged as the front runners with both receiving the same number of votes.
Over the weekend and next several days, when you have a moment, please watch my newest video. I have submitted it to a video contest sponsored by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis from their debut album The Heist. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis created the beautiful “Same Love” video that I posted previously. The winner will be announced after April 8th.
So many, many thanks to my former botany professor, Dr. Kanchi Gandhi, who sent my BomBom Butterflies video to many of his colleagues, friends, and students. My video is getting a growing number of hits in India! I loved every second of Doctor Gandhi’s class and wished often I could be his full time student. Professor Gandhi’s classes are held in the Harvard University Herbaria, with more than 5 million plant specimens. Along with its library, the Herbaria forms the world’s largest university owned herbarium.
Doctor Gandhi’s interests are in the areas of plant nomenclature, plant morphology, and plant taxonomy. He is currently working on the International Plant Name Index, the HUH lookup tables, and Flora of North America project. In 2010 he was awarded the American Society of Plant Taxonomist Distinguished Service Award, which is only given occasionally and reserved for individuals who have made exceptional efforts for ASPT or the plant-systematics community in general.
India is a country rich in flora and many species of butterlies. A beautiful Indian butterfly we on Cape Ann may find particularly interesting is the Blue Tiger Butterfly (Tirumala limniace).
It bears a striking resemblance to our Monarch Butterfly (both members of Nymphalidae, sub-family Danainae, or Brush-foot Family of butterflies) with the clearly defined mitten-shaped cell on the underside of the hindwing. And like our Monarch caterpillars, Blue Tiger caterpillars generally feed on the milkweed family of plants (Asclepiadaceae). Another similarity is that the Blue Tiger migrates through Southern India, although the distance traveled is not quite as long as that of the Monarchs.
